UNITED
NATIONS, May 9
-- The UN's
report into
the 135 rapes
in Minova
is
notable for
what it
doesn't say.
It
doesn't say
that the chief
of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
refused
to answer
Press
questions
about the
rapes for four
months, going
so
far as to have
the UN
Television
microphone
seized to try
to avoid
Inner City
Press
questions
about the
rapes. Video
here and
here.
It
doesn't say
that Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
himself belatedly
said, on
December
5, 2012 when
asked by the
Press,
that the UN
was doing its
"utmost" --
four month
after that,
there have
been only two
arrests for
the 135 rapes.
It
doesn't
mention the double
victimization
controversy,
in which
medical
records were
demanded and
obtained
without the
women
patients'
consent.
The
omission of
even this
issue, of
which not only
Ladsous'
Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations and
MONUSCO, but
also the
Office of the
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights, are
aware from the
self-congratulatory
review of the
UN's actions
calls the
report into
question. This
UN will never
improve, as
evidenced by
Ban Ki-moon's
terse
dismissal of
claims DPKO
brought
cholera to
Haiti, if it
cannot
admit and only
covers up its
negligence and
malfeasance.
The OHCHR,
aware of the role
of Ladsous in
the Great
Lakes Region
during the
Rwanda
genocide,
should have
done a better
job in this
report.
While
the report
does, as Ladsous
refused to do
for five
months,
name two
of the
battalions at
issue, it
doesn't
mention that
one was
trained
by the US, and
the other has
been linked
with the Hutu
genocidaires-linked
FDLR
militia.
Of
the UN's
partners in
the Congo, the
FARDC, it says
this: "The
FARDC also has
a poor human
rights record
and its
soldiers have
for
years been
responsible
for many gross
human rights
violations.
Poor
discipline of
soldiers and
officers alike
stems in part
from the
repeated
integration of
former rebels
into the
national army
without
formal
training, or
vetting
mechanisms to
ensure
accountability.
The
FARDC lacks
basic
equipment and
logistics,
soldiers are
poorly and
irregularly
paid, while
allegations of
corruption,
particularly
among
senior
officers, are
rampant."
But
it does not
mention that
the new
Intervention
Brigade will
operate in
support of
just this
FARDC. What
could go
wrong? Watch
this site.
Footnote:
That
much of the
coverage of
the UN's
whitewash
report also
omits
these issues
has previously
been alluded
to, partially
analyzed
and even filmed,
but expect
more in this
regard -
because this
is another
reason this
UN does not
improve.
, 
